Locals Remember Emmett Till At Bruce's Beach In Manhattan Beach

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA —Close to 100 people visited the Bruce's Beach plaque in Manhattan Beach last Saturday to remember Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955 after the he was accused of offending a white woman in her family's grocery store.

The observance, which included a family member of Till's, was held this year on what would have been Till's 79th birthday, July 25th. It was organized by the Anti-Racist Movements (ARMs) around South Bay (L.A.) which "asked people to drop off sentiments at the plaque" from 10 a.m.-12 noon. "We want to create awareness about Emmett Till and other local social justice issues, including Bruce's Beach," said an ARMs member who wished to remain unnamed.

Bruce's Beach has become a hot spot for action related to civil rights and social injustice due to its history in which Willa and Charles Bruce, a Black couple who owned property close to the ocean that they developed into a Black resort in the 1910s and 1920s, were ousted by Ku Klu Klan attacks and the City of Manhattan Beach, which took the land by eminent domain. The open expanse of land that runs from Highland Avenue to Manhattan Avenue just blocks from the ocean, boasts expansive ocean views, scattered benches, basketball courts, grass lawn and the plaque the city dedicated to the Bruce's history and the renaming of the park in 2006. Until that time, the history of the Bruce family's treatment and subsequent ousting had not been acknowledged in the park's name.

Till's death served as a catalyst for the 1960s civil rights movement. ARMs noted that instead of being 79, "his 14-year-old body was pulled from a river in Tallahatchie County, Miss., in 1955, beaten, tortured, murdered by white supremacists. To this day, his memorial plaque at that site is constantly desecrated and vandalized, so much so that the plaque now has a bullet-proof shield.

"Emmett's mother chose to have an open-casket funeral so that all could see the savage way he was tortured and murdered. This outrage helped to launch the civil rights movement that eventually resulted in such laws at the Civil Rights Act of 1964," said an ARMs representative.

Manhattan Beach resident Chaz Flemmings, who has pulled papers to run for MB City Council in November, happened on the observance while out gaining the necessary signatures to qualify him to run. "This event was a beautiful tribute to Emmettt Till [on his birthday], whose life was taken away due to racial injustice and hate. I express to anyone who's learning about George Floyd's death and the impact of the video showing his arrest, to go back and look at the images of Emmett Till's death.

"I'm glad to have been able to witness this moving vigil and to meet the people who are fighting for the cause to end racism in the South Bay. I'm fighting with them to end this," he said. "Bruce's Beach served as the place for supporters to come together in respect of the fact that Black Lives Matter and the Bruce's Lives Matter, as well. I'm glad to have been there in respect of Emmett Till's birthday and to learn from others so we can do better."

Last Saturday, after the observance, the plaque at Bruce's Beach was surrounded by cards, notes, flowers, candles and mementos.